Net sales in Asia-Pacific amounted to $776.6bn in 2015, accounting for 40% of global net fund sales, the institute said.
This marks a substantial increase from 2014, when the figure was $307.6bn and net sales were only 17% of the global total.
Net sales in Europe made up the next largest segment with 37% of global sales and the Americas accounted for 23%.
The growth in Asia-Pacific sales during the year was mainly driven by inflows into money market funds, which accounted for 38%, or $297bn, of total net sales in the region, according to the International Investment Funds Association.
“One factor contributing to the greater demand for regulated funds in Asia-Pacific is their growing middle class,” said Sean Collins, ICI senior director of industry and financial analysis.
“This has led to dramatic increases in assets under management there. China, for example, is now counted among the top 10 countries in the world for assets under management, due in part to recent inflows to Chinese mixed funds and money market funds,” he added.
As for geographies, in 2015 China funds represented 61% of the region’s total and Japan made up another 30% of net sales, with the remaining 9% distributed across the region.
Worldwide net sales of regulated open-end funds (US$bn)
| 2015 | 2014 | |
| Asia Pacific | 776.6 | 307.6 |
| -Australia | N/A | N/A |
| -China | 470.5 | 167.8 |
| -India | 33.2 | 7.9 |
| -Japan | 233.4 | 97.2 |
| -South Korea | 29.2 | 34.9 |
| -New Zealand | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| -Taiwan | 7.1 | 3.8 |
| Americas | 453.5 | 676.0 |
| Europe | 712.2 | 800.8 |
Source: Investment Company Institute
